Existing approaches to email are rooted in the send-reply-forward paradigm, and rely on an explicit mechanism rather than an intelligent ranking scheme. OUTLOOK (®), for example, allows the sender to set a message's importance and sensitivity; recipients can flag messages. However, current systems lack a dynamic collaboration mechanism; messages are simply sent, replied to and forwarded. There is no notion or presentation of group importance, no dynamic mechanisms that prioritize, manage or reflect the evolution of a thread.
There is a need for a method and apparatus for electronic mail management that prioritizes electronic mails based at least in part on actions of the senders and/or recipients of the electronic mails.